Biography of Sullivan Flanders

Sullivan Flanders, a farmer of Hopkinton, was born in Bradford, N.H., October 6, 1822, son of Nathaniel and Betsey (Wright) Flanders. His grandfather, Jeremiah, came here from South Hampton some time between 1780 and 1783, and managed for one McCard large tracts of land covering several miles in the west part of Hopkinton. In 1794 Jeremiah purchased and settled on land where Thomas White now lives. He married Miriam George; and they had a family of nine children, seven sons and two daughters. His death occurred in Hopkinton, June 14, 1845, and that of his wife, April 14, 1856.

Nathaniel Flanders in early life was a shoemaker. Later on he took up farming, buying in 1841 the present farm of the Copps family. This place was called the Straw farm; and the house was erected by the proprietor bearing that name, who also planted the large elm in front. Captain Aaron Adams, who belonged to the Massachusetts Adamses, was the first owner of the place, having bought it of the “Lords Proprietors,” as the deed says. Here Nathaniel died February 14, 1890; and his wife died February 16, 1869. Their children, six in number, were: Melissa, Sullivan, Lydia W., Joshua W., Nathaniel, and George. Melissa married Rufus P. Copps, of Hopkinton; Lydia W. married John Holbrook, of Swanzey, N.H., and died in 1891; Joshua W. married Ophelia Paige, of Weare, where they reside; Nathaniel, who did not marry, lives with Sullivan; George was killed by a falling tree at the age of thirty.

Sullivan Flanders undertook the management of the farm when quite a young man, and with the exception of two years spent in Lawrence, Mass., has remained here and worked with his brother Nathaniel. He was married February 5, 1850, to Helen M., daughter of James and Lydia Johnson Adams, all of Henniker, and a great-grand-daughter of the Captain Aaron Adams referred to above. Mrs. Flanders was born April 20, 1830, and died September 14, 1877. Mr. Flanders has two daughters-Clara A. and Cora M. The former, who was born February 25, 1851, and resides with her father, was educated at Contoocook, and has taught school for twenty years in Merrimack County. Cora M., born December 22, 1858, superintends her father’s household.